This and That, but Mostly the Other

I just sent the boys to their room with an economy-sized box of crackers, which is probably the dumbest thing I will do all day (knock on wood) but hello, ten minutes of quiet. I'm fairly certain (okay, 100% positive) I'll regret this action later, when I realize their room has been re-carpeted with Cheez-It crumbs, but the prospect of a few silent moments is too enticing to resist. When food and silence are combined, though, it's almost always bad news. Yesterday while I was feeding the baby and I *thought* Daddy was watching them, Cameron and Coby used the kitchen scissors (don't worry, they're as dull as a cat-loving spinster librarian's Friday night plans) to hack ruthlessly into an unopened pack of pudding.

Sneaky critters, these boys. Thank goodness I was able to intercept before there was, like, pudding dripping from their ceiling fan or something.

I'm so ready for school to start, except I'm not, because that means getting everyone - including myself - up and ready and dressed and fed. This year, Colin will be in second grade, and Cameron will be starting preschool for a half-day. So I'll be loading all four children into the car, chauffeuring Colin to school, chauffeuring Cameron to school, puttering back home, picking up Cameron, puttering back home, picking up Colin. Oh, how I wish the preschool had a bus. Or that we lived far enough from the elementary for Colin to take one.

It's also time for back-to-school shopping, the time of year when I fervently wish I were one of those coupon-savvy people. But as you know, I'm just ... not. Scouring fliers and newspapers and whatnot for coupons and price-comparing and price-matching and doubling up and stuff makes me glaze over, kind of like when I try to do a math problem. (Yes, I'm the sort of girl who perpetuates that stereotype. Sorry, feminists everywhere.) It just activates the part of my brain that's all, "Uhhhhhhhhh?" and I can't seem to accomplish much.

So I end up purchasing the best deals I can find, and then living with the nagging feeling that I could've gotten the same thing for half the price somewhere else.

In unrelated news, the Mississippi Valley Fair started yesterday. And I have this compulsion to go, even though almost every other trip there has ended on a decidedly sour note. I feel like it's my obligation as a parent to give my sons fond memories of going to the fair every summer, but damn, it'd be a lot more fun if Curtis and I could just go by ourselves. It does give me plenty of blog fodder, though ... and I did snap one of my favorite pictures ever at the fair one year:

Ha ha ha!

I'll tell you one thing, though: if I'm going to suffer through hauling the kids to the fair, I'm going to eat some deep-fried food.

Because nothing soothes the pain of schlepping four kids through a carnival like a funnel cake.